AEW Women’s eliminator tournament results: Riho vs. Rosa, Japan finals
The Big Takeaways:
Ryo Mizunami advanced to the tournament finals and awaits the winner of Nyla Rose vs. Thunder Rosa as the latter defeated Riho in the last U.S. semifinal.
Show Report:
Excalibur and Taz were on commentary. The American match was taped at Daily’s Place while the Japanese match was taped at the Ice Ribbon Dojo in Saitama, Japan.
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida, Mei Suruga & Rin Kadokura defeated Emi Sakura, Maki Itoh & Veny
This was a fantastic, all action tag match with everyone showing up and showing out with Veny as the highlight.
Itoh performed her customary song and dance ahead of the match.
The Sakura team attacked before the bell, but Itoh couldn’t capitalize with a Kokeshi headbutt. She set up for the “cutest in the world” right hands in the corner until Shida forced her way out. Shida shrugged off some strikes, but Itoh fired up and hit a headbutt before running into a step up kick.
Sakura and Kadokura tagged in with the latter landing a flurry of offense, concluded with a corner cannonball. Sakura came back with multiple backbreakers before tagging in Veny. Kadokura laid in strikes to little effect and was downed by a single Veny slap but Suruga tripped Veny up on the follow up.
Kadokura landed a missile dropkick, but Veny rolled out of it and laid Kadokura out. Kadokura got the better of the follow up exchange with a Northern Lights suplex, a thrust kick and a DDT. Suruga tagged in with a springboard double stomp and bridged into the Apple Mutilation, but Veny reached the ropes.
Veny caught Suruga’s dive and planted her with a wheelbarrow facebuster. A springboard moonsault from Veny got two before tagging in Sakura. The veteran tossed her trainee Suruga around the ring before locking on a Romero Special from which Itoh landed a Kokeshi headbutt.
Suruga stomped on Veny’s feet, but they used their strength to slam Suruga in return. Itoh used the ropes as leverage to crank on Suruga’s neck, but that only got two. Sakura tagged in and continued the beatdown on Suruga. Suruga used her athleticism to escape some big moves and was finally able to land a slam of her own, reaching Shida for the hot tag.
Shida suplexed Veny into their two partners in the corner. After a rising apron knee, a meteora from Shida got two. Shida and Sakura exchanged tilt-a-whirl backbreakers and then each landed one on an opponent. Sakura landed hard chops, but Shida fought back with repeated right hands. A swinging Sakura neckbreaker was followed up with a corner press, but Shida fought back with a rising knee.
We got the parade of big moves, concluded with the Big Apple punch from Suruga. The two Sakura trainees, Shida and Suruga, flicked their mentor in the face before hitting a double team. Sakura continued to fight back on both opponents before tagging in Veny, who halfway landed an Orihara moonsault on Shida on the floor.
A spinning heel kick from Veny, a Vader bomb from Sakura, and a moonsault from Veny got a near fall on Shida. Shida rolled through with a big forearm, but Veny escaped the Falcon Arrow and hit a German suplex. Itoh hit a headbutt from the apron, allowing Veny to hit a Liger bomb for a close near fall.
Veny went to the top rope, but Kadokura took Veny down with a hurricanrana. Shida landed a superplex for two before hitting the Tamashii, but Sakura barely broke up the pin at the last second. Shida’s partners dispatched their opponents and Shida landed the Falcon Arrow for a great near fall with the Tamashii follow up enough to end it.
After the match, Sakura attacked Shida and the teams brawled, but the winning team stood tall at the end.
Ryo Mizunami defeated Yuka Sakazaki to advance to the AEW Women’s eliminator tournament finals
The match featured strong work from both competitors, but didn’t quite reach the level of the two Emi Sakura tournament matches.
Both women were fired up before the match. They performed chain wrestling early on with Mizunami targeting Sakazaki’s arm. Sakazaki used a nice escape to turn the tables. She tried to take Mizunami down with dropkicks, but Mizunami wouldn’t budge. Sakazaki poked her eye and escaped a suplex attempt, cradling her opponent for multiple two counts.
A bodyslam attempt was countered by Mizunami, who kept up the attack with a shoulderblock. Mizunami’s power advantage allowed her to maintain control and a camel clutch. She laid in machine gun chops in the corner, but missed the conclusion, allowing Sakazaki to escape and land a hurricanrana.
Sakazaki hit a rising knee and a diving elbow strike and called for the brainbuster, but Mizunami was too strong. Sakazaki instead opted to apply a calf slicer. She followed it up with a sliding elbow smash, but Mizunami countered with more running offense with a powerslam. A wheelbarrow German and a low leg lariat got two and Mizunami immediately followed it up with the head and arm choke.
The hold wasn’t on for long as Sakazaki transitioned into a triangle hold, but Mizunami fought out with a power bomb. They traded strikes until Mizunami won the exchange with a lariat. Mizunami called for the strong lariat, but Sakazaki countered with a straight punch and the sliding lariat for two.
Sakazaki hit the Magical Girl Splash, but it only got two. Mizunami rolled out of the way of the 450 and hit a uranage. Mizunami hit a headbutt, but Sakazaki countered the fireman’s carry and hit a hurricanrana cradle for two. Mizunami crushed Sakazaki with a lariat, but rolled through with a cradle for two. Mizunami then hit a spear and a short clothesline for a near fall.
Mizunami hit a Samoan driver leg drop to win and advance to Wednesday’s tournament final on Dynamite.
Thunder Rosa defeated Riho to advance to the AEW Women’s Eliminator Tournament U.S. final
This was enjoyable, but it ended just as it was getting really good.
Neither wrestler could establish an advantage early on as they performed technical wrestling. Riho won a choreographed sequence with a dropkick and landed a high kick for two. She continued to control the action with short neckbreakers before applying a unique neck crank.
Riho came back with a tijeras after a quick exchange before landing a tiger feint kick for two. Rosa regained control, targeting Riho’s neck with a leg trap full nelson. She showed frustration as Riho kicked out of continued covers and locked on a dragon sleeper. Riho bridged out of it with a Northern Lights suplex for two.
A diving hurricanrana from Riho started her comeback. She followed it up with a standing stomp and a diving crossbody for two. Rosa forced Riho into the corner and landed a diving clothesline, double knees, and a nice corner dropkick for two. Rosa tried to follow it up with a fireman’s carry, but Riho fought out and hit a dragon suplex.
They both fought on the top rope, but Riho was able to lay in forearms and land a hanging double foot stomp for a near fall. They traded forearms and slaps in the center of the ring, but a Rosa lariat ended the exchange for a two count. Out of nowhere, Riho rolled Rosa up for a close near fall but Rosa cradled Riho to pick up the win to advance.
**********
Coming up:
- Monday on YouTube: Nyla Rose vs. Thunder Rosa in the U.S. finals
- Wednesday on Dynamite: Ryo Mizunami vs. Rose/Rosa in the tournament finals
- Sunday at Revolution: Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida vs. the tournament winner
Final Thoughts:
Three very good matches made this an eminently enjoyable hour of wrestling television. Don’t sleep on that tag match as it was as good as any of the singles matches in this tournament.
Something to keep in mind: AEW needs to sort out the explanations of where to access this content, as well as who can access it. I saw a lot of concern about people being unable to find or access the show, especially the international audience. (Editor’s note: AEW put up the matches on YouTube as the show was going due to the problems with the international audience.)